DE202011108823U1 - Computer-implemented system for navigating a video content object in a user interface - Google Patents

Abstract

A computer-implemented system for navigating a video content object in a user interface, the system being arranged to perform the following steps;
Receiving a video content object;
Receiving a plurality of thumbnails from the video content object, each thumbnail pertaining at a time in the video content object;
Playing the video content object, starting at a first time; Receiving in the user interface a gesture that has a size and a direction, the size associated with a speed of playing the video content object, the direction that corresponds to a direction of playing the video content object heard, and the hand movement, which belongs to a second time in the video content object; Displaying a first subset of the plurality of thumbnails; Receiving a selection of a third time in the video content object; and playing the video content object at the third time.

Description

BACKGROUND

Field of the invention

The present invention generally relates to a web-based video display, and more particularly to an improved system for navigating within a video content.

Description of the Prior Art

There are several websites that provide viewers with video content. One such location is the YOUTUBE ^™ site, which is provided by Google Inc. of Mountain View, California. Typically, videos are delivered by content providers to the video delivery website and then made available for viewing to a large public.

Conventionally, if a video is provided for online viewing instead of receiving all of the video from a client device before starting to play the video, the video begins to play after a predetermined amount of the video has been sent by the client Device was obtained. When the video plays, additional content is delivered and buffered locally. Consequently, when a user selects to fast forward through part of the video, images are available only to the portion of the video that is locally buffered on the client device. Below this point, users are fast-forwarding blindly, not knowing where they are in the video, unless they happen to know the precise timestamp to which they wish to go. Some users are bouncing forward to quickly pass an area of no interest, although users do not know how long that area will last.

Additionally, navigating forwards or backwards through a video often requires clicking on a relatively small icon in the user interface. A small icon can be difficult to click on, and as the video resolution gets better, icons can be made even smaller, and so it becomes harder to click them. More televisions are internet enabled, and thus users will be further away from the display device on which they view the video content, and this adds to the difficulty of accurately clicking a small icon.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems for navigating through video content. A video is played for a user with a set of thumbnails that belong at times before and after the time the video is currently displayed. The thumbnails are updated when the video is played. To fast forward through the video, back and forth, the user interacts with the user interface by making a hand gesture. The size and direction of the hand movement correspond to the speed and direction of the desired video playback. Even if a user quickly spins forward behind the portion of the video file that is locally buffered, the thumbnails are available and provide directional signs to the user as the user navigates through the content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

1 Figure 3 is a block diagram of the overall architecture according to one embodiment.

2 FIG. 10 illustrates an embedded player capable of communicating with a content delivery server and displaying the requested content and graphical user interface, according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG.

3 FIG. 11 is a data flow diagram illustrating a method of updating the display of the video content according to one embodiment. FIG.

4A - 4F are dummies of screenshots of a graphical user interface when a user navigates through the video content in a first example.

5A - 5B are dummies for screenshots of a graphical user interface when a user navigates through the video content in a second example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

introduction

A user requests a web page with an embedded multimedia file using a browser, and the browser receives a container file as part of the web page. The container file is internally connected to the multimedia server and causes the browser to download the multimedia file to the browser. The multimedia content, which is being downloaded will be displayed on the multimedia player / player within the web page as the content becomes available. The user navigates through the video, moving backwards or forwards at a variety of speeds, with the assistance of thumbnails, which act as a guide to the video.

architecture

1 Figure 4 is a block diagram of the overall architecture of one embodiment. The video hosting site or video delivery site 100 communicates, usually via the network interface 102 , with a client 125 over the net 150 , The network 150 is typically the Internet, but may be any network including, but not limited to, a LAN, a MAN, a WAN, a mobile, wired or wireless network, a private network or a virtual private network, or any other Combination of it. For simplicity, only one client is shown. In practice, a large number (eg millions) of clients 125 or as many as may be supported by the hardware and software implementation, at all times in communication with the video hosting site 100 be. Other conventional features, such. As firewalls, load balancers, authentication server, application server, failover server, location management tools and so on, are not shown the characteristics of the video hosting site 100 to make it clearer. An example of a typical video hosting site 100 is the YOUTUBE ^™ website, which is found at www.youtube.com. Other video hosting sites are also well known and may be adapted to work in accordance with the teachings published herein.

The illustrated components of the video hosting site 100 can be implemented as individual pieces of software or hardware or as many pieces of software or hardware. In general, functions described in one embodiment that are performed by one component may also be performed by other components in other embodiments, or by a combination of components. Also, features that are described in one embodiment may be provided by components of the video hosting site 100 be executed, even by one or more clients 125 in other embodiments, if appropriate.

In addition to the network interface assigns the video hosting site 100 a front-end server or data-station server 103 , a video server 105 , a video database 110 and a thumbnail module 115 on. The front-end server 103 receives the user's request for a video file and forwards the request for the video file to the video server 105 further. The front-end server 103 For example, it may be a web server, which web content, which includes a user interface, to the client 125 supplies.

The video server 105 asks the video file and associated thumbnails from the video database 110 and transfers the data to the client 125 , The video server 105 Also receives uploaded videos from Content Providers. The content can be on the video server 105 over the Internet from a personal computer via a cellular network from a telephone or PDA or through another device for transmitting data over the network 150 which professionals are known to be uploaded. The content may be in a similar manner from the video server 105 be transferred or downloaded. In one embodiment, a video becomes a file which becomes a client 125 is downloaded, and in an alternative embodiment, the video becomes the client 125 directed. The device with which the video through the video server 105 does not have to match the device with which it is sent to the client 125 is delivered. For example, a content provider may upload a video file to a personal computer via a browser, whereas the client 125 can receive this content as a stream.

The video database 110 is used to save the uploaded videos. The video database 110 stores the video content and associated metadata supplied by the source of the video content by the operator of the video hosting site 100 or by a third party. The videos have metadata associated with each file to describe the characteristics of the video file or its content. For example, metadata stored may include a video ID, an ID of the user who delivered the video, the artist, the video title, the label, the type, the length of time, and geographic constraints used for data collection or content blocking on a geographic basis. In addition, thumbnails taken through the thumbnail module 115 generated from a video in the video database 110 saved.

The thumbnail module 115 generates thumbnails for videos in the video database 110 , In one embodiment, the thumbnails are still pictures of the video at predetermined times. For example, a thumbnail will appear at every one-second mark, every half-second mark, or at every two-second mark in the video created. More frequent or less frequent thumbnails are also possible. In one embodiment, thumbnails are created whenever there is a scene change in the video. Such points in the video may be determined manually or by a scene detection algorithm. In another embodiment, a thumbnail is a portion of a video content of predetermined length. The thumbnail module 115 captures portions of the video content at pre-determined intervals or during a scene change. In yet another embodiment, thumbnail images may include both still images and video content. For example, scene changes could have video content as a thumbnail while other thumbnails for the video are still pictures.

Each of the different servers, which in 1 is implemented as a server program executing on a server-class computer having a CPU, a memory, a network interface, peripheral interfaces, and other well-known components. The computers themselves run in various embodiments on an operating system such. LINUS, Microsoft Windows, or Apple OS X, generally have high performance CPUs, 1GB or more of memory, and 100GB or more of disk space. Of course, other types of computers can be used, and as more powerful computers are developed in the future, they can be configured according to the teachings listed here. The functionality implemented by any of the elements may be provided by computer program products stored in tangent, computer accessible storage media (eg, RAM, hard disk, or optical / magnetic media) and by the computer Computer (the computer) can be accessed. In general, functions described in one embodiment that execute on the server side may also be executed on the client side in other embodiments, as appropriate. In addition, the functionality associated with a particular component may be performed by different or many components that co-operate.

The client 125 is any device that is able to access the network. Examples include, but are not limited to, general purpose computers, handheld mobile devices, game consoles, Internet-enabled televisions, and cable or satellite digital receivers. The client 125 includes a browser 127 with an embedded player 130 , The client 125 watches videos from the video hosting site 100 where software suitable for this purpose is used. Typically, this software is the browser 127 , such as For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, etc. Alternatively, client-specific or site-specific software can be used. The embedded player 130 may be a video player (e.g., Flash ^™ from Adobe Systems, Inc.) or any other device adapted for the video file formats available at the video hosting site 100 to be used. The embedded player 130 can through the website of the video hosting site 100 or be delivered through a website of a third party. The client 125 further includes means for accepting input from a user. This device includes, but is not limited to, a pointing device, such as a pointer. As a mouse, a keyboard or keypad or a touch screen or touch screen. In some embodiments, the browser becomes 127 displayed to the user on the touch screen. In another embodiment, the input is input by the user to a remote controller which is the input to the client 125 triggers.

A user can access a set of videos directly from the video hosting site 100 by visiting the video hosting site 100 browsing and browsing a catalog of videos, performing searches based on keywords, reviewing playlists of other users or the system administrator (eg, collections of videos that make up channels), watching videos that belong to a particular user group ( eg communities or communities), or by directly accessing the video resource, e.g. Eg via a URL.

2 provides an embedded player 130 which is capable of communicating with a content providing server and displaying the requested content and the corresponding graphical user interface according to an embodiment of the invention. The embedded player 130 has a control member 202 , a video decoder or decoder 204 , an audio decoder 206 and a module 208 the graphical user interface of the player on.

The control element 202 implements the state machine of the embedded player 130 and leads the video decoder 204 , the audio decoder 206 and the player GUI module 208 to carry out their respective tasks at appropriate times. The control element 202 also communicates with the video hosting site 100 to request and receive videos on the embedded player 130 are to be displayed.

The video decoder 204 decodes encoded video files from the video hosting site 100 be received. The video decoder 204 can a variety of video compression standards, such. As MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, etc. support. The video decoder 204 Also provides thumbnail images for display when guiding the control member 202 ,

The audio decoder 206 decodes encoded audio files from the video hosting site 100 be received. The audio decoder 206 can support a variety of audio compression standards such as GSM AMR, AC3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-3, etc.

The player GUI module 208 determines the graphical user interface and displays it for the embedded player 130 at. In addition, the player GUI module receives 208 Hand movements and forwards the user selection to the appropriate modules. For example, if a user wishes to pause forward or backward in a video file being played, the player GUI module redirects 208 the selection of the user to the appropriate modules, such. B. the video decoder 204 and the audio decoder 206 , further.

3 . 4 and 5 illustrate how a user requests a video and navigates the video by moving backwards or forwards at a variety of speeds with the support of the thumbnails that guide the video. The system updates the display of the video in response to the user's input, such as the user's input. In terms of direction and speed desired for playback. 3 is a data flow diagram, 4A - 4G and 5A - 5B are representations of the user interface as displayed to the user.

A user at a client 125 selects a video to watch, and this request is made by the embedded game device 130 receive 395 , An identifier ("ID") identifying the requested video is sent to the video server 105 at the video hosting site 100 transfer 310 , The video server 105 urges 315 the video and associated thumbnails from the video database 110 which returns the video and related thumbnails 320 , The video server 105 provides 325 reverse the video and associated thumbnails to the embedded player 130 at the client 125 , In one embodiment, the video server provides 105 the entire video file to the embedded player 130 , Alternatively, the video file is sent to the embedded player 130 forwarded. In an embodiment in which the video file is sent to the embedded player 31 is forwarded, an initial portion of the video file to the embedded player 130 which is to be loaded into the buffer to start playing. When the video starts playing, additional portions of the video file are delivered to the buffer. In a preferred embodiment, the video file is sent to the embedded player 130 forwarded, and it will be essentially all of the associated thumbnails to the embedded player 130 delivered when the video stream is started.

The video is sent to the client 125 in the embedded player 130 appropriate 327 , Regarding 4a has the embedded player 130 a viewing window 405 and various control elements.

Examples of controllers include a play / pause button 410 , a volume control button 415 , a viewing progress bar 420 , a time display member 425 and a button 430 to go to full screen. Such controls are well known in the art of embedded players, and any known control keys may be used with the embedded player 130 to be used. A user interacts with the controllers, with means for accepting the input at the client 125 is used. In one embodiment, the user uses a mouse or keyboard to interact with the controllers. Alternatively, the input of the user is obtained via a remote control. In another embodiment, the embedded player becomes 130 displayed to the user on a touch screen, and the user is interactive with the control members by directly touching on the touch screen.

The play / pause button switches between a play mode and a pause mode of the video in the viewing window 405 , The volume control button 415 allows the user to control the volume of the video. In one embodiment, the selection causes the volume control key 415 in that a sliding control element appears with which the user can increase or decrease the volume. In addition, such a slider may also include a button that changes the volume for the video.

If selected, causes the key 430 to go to the full screen, that the size of the viewing window is increased. In one embodiment, the viewing window becomes the size of the screen on the client 125 ,

The viewing progress bar 420 indicates how far the video plays when playing the video Videos is. This information also becomes digital in the form of the elapsed time in the time display element 425 which shows where the video is in the time of playback and how the total time of the video is. The viewing progress bar 420 also has a download progress bar 435 which displays the portion of the video which has been downloaded and which is therefore available locally at the client.

Regarding 4B by having a user look over the viewing window 405 moves with the mouse, as indicated by a pointer icon 440 is displayed to the user instructions 445 How to navigate through the video is displayed. A single click into the viewing window 405 Switches the video between playing and pausing. When the user clicks and in the viewing window 445 Holding down, the user can navigate through the video by dragging left or right to "fast forward" or "rewind" the video. In an alternative embodiment, instructions will be provided 445 are not displayed, or they are controlled by a switch or other preference setting. For example, as users become more familiar with the navigation feature, instructions become less useful.

Regarding 4C , clicking and holding the mouse, becomes a variety of frames 450 showing the thumbnails belonging to the video to the user. In addition, the video is played back by the controller 202 in the embedded player 130 paused or discontinued. The images are arranged in chronological order, with the images belonging to places in the video in front of the current place, in the left play of the plurality of frames 450 , Those images belonging to places in the video which come after the current place are those in the right-hand side of the plurality of frames. The larger frame 455 is the image closest to the time at the time of playing the video. Alternatively, the larger frame shows 455 the image currently being displayed to the user while viewing the window 405 is shown. In addition, there are arrows 460 and 465 which indicate that the video can be fast forward or reverse rewind. The arrow 460 points to the right and in the direction of the thumbnails, which are the bookmarks for the video after the current place during playback. The arrow 465 points to the left and toward the thumbnails, which are the bookmarks for the video before the current place in the playback.

Regarding 4D When the user pulls the clicked mouse to the left or to the right, the corresponding arrow will extend, indicating that the playback of the video in that direction is speeding up. The extension of the arrow 460 is the visual representation of the user location of the embedded player when the user clicks and moves the mouse. The action of clicking and dragging is a gesture of the hand through the player GUI module 208 Will be received 330 , The hand movement has not only one direction, but also a size. The direction indicates whether the user wants to rewind the video or fast forward. The size of the hand movement is how far to the left or to the right the user moves the mouse from the center of the viewing window 405 pulled. The size is visually represented by how far the arrow is 460 extends. The size and direction of the gesture will be on the player GUI module 208 receive 330 , By using the size and direction of the hand movement transmits 335 the player GUI module 208 Instructions indicating the movement of the hand to the video decoder 204 and the audio decoder 206 to implement. Conversely deliver 340 the videorecorder 204 and the audio decoder 206 the video and associated thumbnails at the speed and direction as required by the size and direction of the received hand movement. The larger the size of the hand, the faster the video will progress. In the case of rewinding is the size of the arrow 465 the visual representation of how quickly the video is requested to be rewound by the user. The speed at which the video is delivered to the user is indicated by the display 470 displayed. In the exemplary embodiment, in this case, the speed is twice the normal playback speed. In one embodiment, when the video is rewound by the user, the speed is identified as negative. In another embodiment, the reverse direction is in an alternative manner, such. As indicated by red numbers. A text ad 475 indicates to the viewer that the video is being fast-forwarded.

In another embodiment, instead of clicking and dragging in the viewing window 405 , is there a control element, such as. As a joystick or control lever, which the user uses to fast forward or reverse the video fast. In yet another alternative embodiment, the user clicks and pulls the viewing progress bar 420 ,

In addition to the playback of the video being changed, the subset of thumbnails that is displayed to the user is also updated. The display of thumbnails in the majority of frames 450 is a visual table of contents, which are along the lower part of the viewing window 304 is scrolled or unrolled. As in 4E is displayed, the video is fast forwarded or rewound, the miniature windows are also fast forward and backward, with the thumbnail closest to the current time in the video in the larger frame 455 is pictured. The faster the video is spooled backwards or forwards, the faster the thumbnails scroll and roll over.

In an alternative embodiment, before playing the video at a higher rate of speed, the viewing window shows 405 the thumbnail, which is currently in the larger frame 455 is shown. As the user navigates, the miniature windows become in the multiplicity of frames 450 updated, and every time the thumbnail in the larger frame 455 is updated, the same thumbnail is displayed in the viewing window 405 displayed. When the video is fast-forwarding or rewinding at a high rate of speed, viewing the miniature windows is in the viewing window 405 more efficient.

Regarding 4F When the user reaches the desired time in the video, the user clicks and pulls and the video resumes playback at normal speed.

In one embodiment, the thumbnails for a selected video are sent to the client 125 through the video hosting site 100 delivered. If not the entire video to the client 125 is delivered and instead to the client 125 is streamed, it is possible that, when fast-forwarding, the user will move through the portion of the video stored in the buffer and he will try to fast-forward through portions of the video which are not yet available to the client 125 were run continuously. In such an example, since all of the images have been delivered, the user is able to navigate through the video. Regarding 5A When moving past the portion of the video that is stored locally, the viewing window will show 405 no longer the video on. The majority of frames 450 will continue to be displayed and the thumbnails for the video will be updated as the user fast-forwards through the video. In another embodiment, the viewing window is shown 405 the thumbnail, which is currently in the larger frame 455 is shown.

Regarding 5B After the fast forward rewind past the portion of the video file stored in the buffer, when the user gives up the click and pull, the client prompts 125 the video content from the video hosting site 100 at. The video hosting site 100 returns the content starting at the requested point, and viewing the video continues as before, using the video hosting site 100 the content to the client 125 running continuously and being the client 125 stores a portion of the content before which the user views in a local buffer. Should the user then move backwards through the video to view the content that was previously skipped, the client prompts 125 the content of the video hosting site 100 if the content was not previously stored in the buffer.

The present invention has been described in particular detail with reference to a limited number of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention can be additionally practiced in other embodiments. First, the specific designation of the components, the capitalization of the terms, the attributes, data structures, or any other programming or structural aspect are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanism that implements the invention or its features may have different names, formats or have protocols. In addition, the system may be implemented via a combination of hardware and software as described or entirely in hardware elements. Also, the specific subdivision of functionality between the various system components described herein is exemplary only and not binding; Functions performed by a single system component may instead be performed by many components, and functions performed by many components may instead be performed by a single component. For example the special functions of the playback GUI module 208 can be delivered in many modules or in one module.

Unless specifically determined otherwise than as will become apparent from this discussion, it will be appreciated that within the description, the discussions that use the terms such as words, words, and phrases, "Edit" or "Calculate" or "Determine" or "Display" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system or similar electronic computing device which transmits data manipulated as physical (electronic) units within computer system memory or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

It should be noted that the process steps and instructions of the present invention may be embodied in software, firmware, or hardware and, if embodied in software, may be downloaded to be hosted and operated by various platforms be used by real-time network operating systems.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations described herein. This device may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer which may be selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium such as, but not limited to, any type of disk, including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magneto-optical disks, read only memories (ROMs). direct access random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application specific integrated circuits (ASCIs), or any type of media capable of storing electronic instructions, all of which are coupled to a computer system. In addition, the computers referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures that employ many processor designs for enhanced compute performance.

Claims (15)

A computer-implemented system for navigating a video content object in a user interface, the system being arranged to perform the following steps; Receiving a video content object; Receiving a plurality of thumbnails from the video content object, each thumbnail pertaining at a time in the video content object; Playing the video content object, starting at a first time; Receiving in the user interface a gesture that has a size and a direction, the size associated with a speed of playing the video content object, the direction that corresponds to a direction of playing the video content object heard, and the hand movement, which belongs to a second time in the video content object; Displaying a first subset of the plurality of thumbnails; Receiving a selection of a third time in the video content object; and playing the video content object at the third time. The system of claim 1, further arranged to graphically perform the step of displaying hand movement in the user interface. The system of claim 2, wherein displaying the hand gesture comprises displaying the size and direction of hand movement in a graphical manner. The system of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the plurality of thumbnail images is based at least in part on the second time. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one of the first subset of the plurality of thumbnail images belongs at a time prior to the second time. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one of the first subset of the plurality of thumbnail images belongs at a time after the second time. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the first subset of the plurality of thumbnail images belongs at the second time. The system of claim 1, further arranged to perform the step of displaying a second subset of the plurality of thumbnails based in part on the size and direction of hand movement; specifically, wherein the times associated with the second subset of the plurality of thumbnail images are after the second time. The system of claim 8, wherein the times associated with the second subset of the plurality of thumbnails are prior to the second time. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the subset of the plurality of thumbnails belongs to the third time. The system of claim 8, wherein an amount of elapsed time between the display of the first subset and the display of the second subset decreases as the amount of hand movement is greater. A computer-implemented system for navigating a video content object in a user interface, the system being arranged to perform the steps of: receiving a plurality of video content objects; Generating at least one thumbnail image associated with each of the plurality of video content objects, each thumbnail image further including a time in each of the plurality of video content objects heard; Receiving a request for a video content object of the plurality of video content objects; and delivering the one video content object and the at least one thumbnail image associated with the video content object. The system of claim 13, wherein delivering the video content object comprises streaming the video content object at a first time in the video content object is started. The system of claim 14, further arranged to perform the following steps: Receiving a request for the video content item at a time in the video content item; and Stream the Video Content item at the second time. The system of claim 15, wherein the second time is the time at which at least one thumbnail belongs to which the video content object belongs.

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